Alzheimer's cured in mice

Discovered drug for Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's Research: US scientists have been able to stop and cure Alzheimer's in mice.

12/14/2010

University of Texas researchers have restored the learning and memory of Alzheimer's disease in a study using the protein CBP. This is a cause for hope for thousands of patients suffering from the genetic Alzheimer's disease.

It has long been known in the art that the production of the protein CBP is blocked in a special genetically caused Alzheimer's form, which causes a progressive memory loss. Because CBP is crucial for the synthesis of other proteins such as CREB, which in turn plays a central role in the generation of memories in the brain. Alzheimer's disease patients lack the CREB protein, which causes so-called beta-amyloid proteins to form in the brain and deposit in the brain. These so-called plaques lead to the damage of the nerve cells and thus cause the typical for Alzheimer's and other types of dementia memory disorders or limitations in the performance of the brain. By artificially enhancing the CREB production-critical protein CBP in the hippocampal brain region, researchers led by Antonella Caccamo of the University of Texas at San Antonio reversed this degeneration of the brain, at least in early-stage Alzheimer's disease the statement of the US scientists in the publication of their study results in the current issue of the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)”.

At the beginning of the study, the mice were in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and showed already the first alzheimer's typical dementia phenomena, the US scientists report in their current publication. After the researchers had introduced the protein CBP with the help of viral envelopes as a means of transport into the hippocampus (learning and memory center) of the mice, their memory performance had improved again to the level of healthy mice, the result of the study. In the post-treatment test in a labyrinth, the CBP-treated mice were able to orient much better than the rodents who received only a placebo preparation, the researchers said. Their sense of direction met the healthy mice and they successfully found their way out of the labyrinth. On the basis of the current study results, the US scientists hope not only to be able to counteract Alzheimer's disease in the future, but also to enable the treatment of other dementia diseases.

In light of the bleak predictions made by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the development of dementia diseases worldwide, many scientists have intensified their research, so that constantly new, seemingly groundbreaking findings are being published. However, it remains to be seen which of the approaches will work in the end and really help the patients. However, hurry is a must, as WHO estimates that more than 35 million people around the world are suffering from dementia worldwide, and by 2050 this figure is expected to increase to around 115 million people with dementia worldwide. (Fp)

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Image: Viktor Mildenberger